Wednesday, October 1, 2008

In a matter of days a bunch of Belgians will land on U.S. soil to play a bunch of anthemic, high energy hardcore songs of the straight edge variety. True Colors is the name of their band and I suggest you go see them if you have the chance. They zill be touring with none other than Cruel Hand. Here are their tourdates:

Due to logistic reasons I can't spice this up with a sweet live pic but let the words do the talking here. I asked my friend Wim "Hingie" De Backer a couple of questions. He plays bass in True Colors. BUST!

In a couple of days from now, True Colors will be in the United States. How did this happen? Who made it happen? How excited are you?

We've been talking about touring the US for a while now, but I don't think any of us really believed that it would ever happen. We all kinda knew that we were capable of doing it if we would just get to it, but the idea of True Colors touring in America was always quite absurd to us... I don't even know how it all finally happened, but I assume our drummer Peers just got in touch with Andy Rice from Deathwish (probably through Dave Sausage), and he just booked our tour. And I am pretty excited about it! See next question...

None of you have ever been there, so how wild do you expect the U.S. to be? Do you think the female population over there is ready for the coming of L.L. Cool P. (Ladies Love Cool Peers)?

I try to have no expections at all, but I'm sure everything is going to be mega exciting! I cannot wait for the moment we're walking out of the airport, all in America for the first time, on tour with our band, figuring out what we'll be doing first and how exactly. And it all looks like we don't have too many really long drives and we're going to be able to hang out in some cool cities, so that's just perfect. Far out, far fucking out as the dude would say...And I personally believe that no female population anywhere can ever be ready for the coming of Peers. Mothers, lock up your daughters! I'm not even joking...

Please give me a list of 10 things you absolutely want to do while you are on tour there...

One thing I learned playing in a touring band is never plan too much stuff in advance, cause I always get a little bummed out if things don't work out the way I want them to, wich is pretty often. BUT, 10 things I definitly want to do this time around include:Play at least one good showGet into CanadaHang out with Spoiler08Eat non vegan things with Spoiler08Eat donuts dailyGet a strawberry/banana smoothie (yo Stief!)Try all the Ben&Jerrys flavours that arent available in EuropeBuy a new iPod (cheap)Buy lots of other stuff (cheap)Hang out in New York City

True Colors has been known to bust some Youth Of Today covers on the regular... What Youth Of Today songs have you covered so far and do you have any others planned for the future?

So far we did Honesty, Break Down The Walls, I Have Faith, Slow Down, Put It Aside, A Time We'll Remember and Wake Up And Live. We did Disengage at rehearsals but we were not quite ready for that song yet. We're not really sure what our next Youth Of Today cover will be, but I definitly still want to do the following: Positive Outlook, Youth Of Today, Disengage, Together, Understand and a bunch more...

Please explain your fixation on this seminal Straight Edge Band. If you could go back in time and be in Youth Of Today playing bass, what era of Youth Of Today would you go back to?

Youth Of Today just makes perfect sense to me, in every possible way... to me, they hit home like no other band does. Their songs are fast and super aggresive, their lyrics inspiring yet simple, their live shows energetic and impressive, their records and their layouts completly flawless... Just exaclty what I was looking for when I discovered them at age 17. I was still a fattie back then, and looking at the pictures of Ray and Porcell always made me want to work out and get in shape. They definitely had a big influence on me growing up...I wouldn't even dare to think of me replacing Walter Schreifels or Craig Setari as a bassplayer in Youth Of Today, so I'd go back to 1985 and play in YOT in their Can't Close My Eyes days if I had to. I love every Youth Of Today record and all eras so it's all good anyway. Though my absolute favourite one is the We're Not In This Alone era, that record, most energy captured on a record ever! And best hardcore record of all time, hands down...This question made me listen to all four Youth Of Today releases in a row this morning, it made my day.